Out of 40000
by karrajoa
Summary: One out of 40.000. How had she been so lucky? Could he be the one? The boy who had problems with his temper, and deep blue eyes, the kind that makes you feel like you would drown in an ocean. AU story.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time__  
><em>_I'm having a ball__  
><em>_Don't stop me now__  
><em>_If you wanna have a good time just give me a call__  
><em>_Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)__  
><em>_Don't stop me now (Yes I'm havin' a good time)__  
><em>_I don't want to stop at all_

_Don't stop me now – Queen_

She had been looking forwards to this for a long while. It was more than a year ago that she had signed up for the camp. Now, they were finally there.

The travelled had taken a rather long while. They had all been sleeping over at a school, only 20 minutes away from the airport and they had gotten up at 6am. Then they had taken a plane from Heathrow and to the airport in Sweden. Then from there, they had taken a bus, she had no idea about how long the ride was. She was too busy, thinking and talking with Ginny, one of her fellow scouts.

Now, she was looking outside the window of the bus, taking in the busy camp. But then one of the leaders got up from her seat and started giving them important information, some rules and what they would spend the rest of the day doing.

Hermione could barely pay attention, and she was usually the one who listened to what was said. It was just so hard, with the camp so close, but yet so far away.

Then, the leader finished and the bus driver opened the doors. Hermione, who had been sitting next to Ginny all the way in the front, was one of the first scouts off the bus.

She couldn't do anything else than watch it for a moment.

Then someone poked her arm.

"You can't just stand there, starin' at it," Seamus told her with a grin. "You have to 'elp unload the bus," he stated.

Hermione nodded and turned her back to the sight of the busy camp.

Unloading the bus didn't take too long, but finding their campsite was. They were rather annoyed when they for the third time had to take on their backpacks again, because it wasn't the right place.

The fourth time they stopped they were at the right place. It was almost at the other end of the camp than the bus stop, in the sub-camp Summer. They instantly rid themselves of their backpacks and they were only sent back to the bus stop once to get the rest of the equipment they had brought.

When they got back to their campsite, they ate a quick lunch, and then it was time to begin setting up their tents.

They weren't allowed to leave their campsite, unless they needed the loo, or they were told to go fetch something somewhere.

The rest of their day was spent starting on the huge portal they had been planning for a while now and putting up benches to cook their food on.

%&%&%&

Their first whole day spent at the camp literally rained away.

The whole day it rained heavy and that made all the scouts drop their happiness a few levels.

However, they kept their courage up and by lunch they had finished most of the stuff they had to do. The big portal was finished and they had quite a large space to cook their food on.

So during lunch, they got the message they all wanted to hear. "After lunch you will all be able to walk around the camp on your own," one of the leaders announced. "But try not to get lost."

"Cough, Seamus, cough," came from one of the other scouts.

All of them cheered and clapped, and laughed while Seamus blushed a bit.

Hermione, Ginny and Luna packed up their stuff and were quickly ready to head out of their campsite and discover the big camp.

They found the centre of their sub-camp, Summer. In the middle, was a large, yellow ball, supposed to be the sun. About 10 large, white tents were scattered around the area. Ginny discovered that there was free internet for the scouts, and they discovered two inflatable pools. They were filled with water and on the water were kids running around n large, see-through balls.

"Guys, we have to try those one day!" Ginny exclaimed out loud and Hermione and Luna agreed. They looked like a lot of fun.

%&%&%&

The next day the girls were woken up by Seamus. He jumped into their tent and said good morning loudly.

Ten seconds later, he came running out of the tent, after the girls had thrown their shoes at him.

Half an hour later, they were all eating their breakfast.

Despite the rain, still coming down but a little les now, the camp was buzzing with busy people.

After breakfast they all got ready to head to their first activity.

The activity had the patrols going through four different "ages". The Stone Age, the Middle Age, 1800ds western and the time when dinosaurs roamed the planet.

It was okay, and it got even better when it didn't rain for about an hour.

Hermione's patrol met up with Seamus' patrol for lunch and they sat on the ground, talking and eating.

After activities Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Lavender and Seamus ventured out of their campsite and explored Time Avenue.

There they found several international restaurants and each country had their own tent. There they gave out several different tasks that could earn them a badge if they wanted.

They decided against it and figured they'd have loads of time to do it. They were after all spending nearly two weeks at the camp.

Then they all had to venture back to their campsite to help make dinner.

That night there was also the opening ceremony of the camp. It was held on a stage, sat on a large field and all 40.000 scouts were gathered there. It had everything from flamethrowers, to jugglers making them do "le blop" and a great dance show.

After the big opening show it was time for bed and they all went happily, tired after the first day spent doing activities.

**A/N: Yeah, so this is it. It's just a teaser, and no appearance from Ron or Harry yet! :O**

**I promise you it'll happen in the next chapter, if you guys like this of course, because this is something I won't bother to write if no one reads it. So R&R and I'll be so happy. **

**And I had to make Ginny be in Hermione's troop, and not being Ron's sister, because if she wasn't she wouldn't be in this story and she's a rather big character you'll see soon. I haven't yet introduced you to all the characters in Hermione's troop, but I think they'll show up in the next chapter. **

**Think that was everything for now :) Have any questions? Write it in a review and I'll try to answer it, or PM me I don't bite.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So here's the next chapter. I really hope you all like it.**

**Before you start reading I'm going to explain to you what an IST is. IST stands for international service team (that's what I think at least) and they were the crew kind of. Hope I explained it well enough :)**

Chapter 2

_The sun goes down,_

_The stars come out,_

_And all that counts is here and now,_

_My universe will never be the same,_

_I'm glad you came._

_Glad you came – The Wanted_

%&%&%&

The third day was when everything was turned upside down.

As they exited their tents in the morning, they came out to the sun shining. It immediately put a smile onto everyone's faces.

They made breakfast and sat down to eat.

"Slept well?"

Hermione turned around to see the bright smiling face of Amber.

"Hi, yeah I did, you?" she smiled at the other girl.

Hermione wasn't really sure whether to look at herself as lucky or unlucky to get Amber as a leader.

Amber was her brother Jack's wife. In the start Hermione didn't like her much, but now the two of them got along rather well. It had taken some time, some movie nights and some talks, but now she knew that Amber was there for her.

At the minute Amber was three months pregnant with her and Jack's first child and Hermione couldn't wait to become an aunt.

"It was okay, it's getting worse though," Amber stated.

"Hey, you know what we're doing today?" Hermione asked the older girl.

"Not really, just that the activity is named human," Amber said and shrugged. "Well, you all better finish breakfast now and get going. Don't want to be late," she winked at Hermione.

"You heard her," Hermione told the rest of her patrol and they quickly finished breakfast and clean up after themselves.

%&%&%&

"I can't believe this rubbish!" Ginny announced loudly.

They had spent the last 30 minutes watching the most stupid play they had ever seen. It was supposed to make them laugh, but it mostly just made them all annoyed.

It had lead to Ginny and Lavender talking about the boys around them in codes. Blue was hot, yellow was cute and red was both cute and hot.

It mostly made Hermione laugh, so she spent most of the time talking to Luna about various stuff.

When it was finished, they just had to do three more activities to get the day approved and they could go on to do whatever they wanted.

"C'mon Gin, we'll finish soon, and then you and Lavender can go do whatever," Hermione told her with a smile.

"I can't wait!" Ginny said with a large smile.

The whole patrol smiled and they made their way to one of the shortest lines to do another activity.

"This way!" One of the IST's shouted and led them out to the open field.

"Okay, so sit down and I'll explain what you're supposed to do," the IST told them.

They all sat down in a circle and the IST gave Hermione about five pictures.

"Look at the pictures, all of you are going to choose one and tell the rest of the patrol what the picture means to them, and what they think about when they see it." The IST left and Hermione put the pictures down in the middle of the circle so everyone could see them.

After a short while Hermione picked up one of the pictures and started talking about it.

"When I see this picture I think about..."

There she was cut off by another voice.

"Can we join you guys?"

Hermione turned around and looked up at the gang of boys.

More like men. They all looked like they were supposed to be IST's or leaders, only a few of them looked like they could be under 18, in her opinion at least.

She shared a look with Ginny. Ginny gave her a short nod.

"Sure, sit down," she said with a smile to the boys.

They widened out the ring they sat in and they made room for everyone.

"Maybe we should go around the ring, say our names and stuff?" one of the boys suggested.

"Good idea," Ginny agreed.

"Okay, I'll start," one of the boys announced to the rest of them. "I'm Oliver, and I'm the patrol leader for these idiots," he said and gestured towards the rest of the boys.

They went around the circle and they all said a little about themselves.

"I'm Harry," another of the boys said. He wore a pair of glasses and had uncontrollable black hair.

"I'm Ginny," Ginny told them and looked to her right, to the next boy.

"I'm Neville," he said while looking at the ground in front of him. He seemed a bit shy.

"I'm Ron," the last of the boys declared.

Hermione turned and looked at him. He was seated right beside her. He looked tall and had what couldn't be described as anything else than ginger hair.

"I'm Hermione, and I'm the patrol leader of this bunch," she told the gang.

%&%&%&

"Y'know, no one would notice it if we had lunch now," Oliver suggested.

Hermione shook her head.

"And you should know that they have scheduled everything, so we can't just go wandering around as we want," she said strictly. She hated doing things against the rules.

"Hey Ron? You hungry?" Oliver asked the other boy. They were all cramped together under a tarpaulin because it had started raining again.

"Yeah, sure am dude," Ron answered.

Oliver smiled smugly at Hermione. He knew that Ron was always hungry, but there was no way that Hermione knew that.

"You can't you go because one of your scouts are hungry!" Hermione exclaimed.

Ron looked at Hermione. "Hey! He can't have me starving, can he?"

Hermione shook her head. "I doubt you'll starve, eh, Ron?" She hadn't totally managed to learn the names of all the boys.

It was clear that the boys were American. The way they talked was a huge give-away.

"Yes, Ron probably won't starve," the boy named Harry said, interrupting their discussion.

"C'mon Hermy, no one will notice it, and we'll go back and finish after," Oliver tried.

"Number one, never, ever call me Hermy, or any other ridicules pet names! Number two, we should wait, it's not long until lunch anyway," Hermione stated. She hated pet names and refused to answer to any.

"Exactly," Ginny answered Hermione. "It's not long, so why not go now?"

Hermione glared at Ginny. Wasn't they supposed to be a team?

"C'mon Hermione, let loose a bit," Ron dared her. He was looking at her with those deep blue eyes. They were the kind that made her feel like she was going to drown in an ocean. And then there was that lopsided grin.

"Um, ah, I give up!" she exclaimed loud enough to let her own patrol and the American boys hear it.

"Then let's go have lunch!" Ron said loudly.

They all packed up their stuff and got up.

"So, Dutch place?" Oliver asked and most of the boys nodded. "You coming too?" he asked Hermione.

She looked at the other teens in her patrol. Most of them nodded.

"Sure," she said and they all started making their way towards the restaurants.

It doesn't take more than ten minutes to get to the place, but as they get there, they see the incredible long line.

Hermione smirked a bit, glad she packed with her something for lunch. Ginny and some of her other patrol members' sat down with her by a table right outside the restaurant.

They talked for a while before the rest of their patrol and the American boys came to sit down with them.

It was getting really cramped around the table, but they managed in the end.

Lunch went with them joking around, getting to know each other. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Hermione had to smile to herself, it hadn't been a bad idea to let the boys join them.

"So, there's no American girls here?" Ginny asked Harry interested.

"Nope, none of them. They just don't do this kind of things," he explained.

Ginny actually seemed interested for once. "Wow, that's just weird," she exclaimed.

Harry just shrugged, not really sure what to answer.

"Guys, maybe we should head back now?" Hermione asked the others.

"Sure, let's listen to Hermione for once," Oliver said with a smile.

They all packed up their things and moved back to the area where the activities were in full swing again.

%&%&%&

They finished about the same time, and when it was time to head back to their campsite, the American boys decided to walk them back.

"See, it's not that hard to find it!" Ginny exclaimed as she pointed it out to Harry and Ron when they were about 50 yards away. "You have the large food tent over there," she pointed to her right. "And then we almost have the tallest flagpole in the camp, it's not hard to see," she told them with a grin.

"Well, I'm sure I'll find it," Harry told her. "But Ron's the worst guy I know when it comes to directions."

Oliver laughed a bit as Harry said this. "You know at the opening show? Did any of you guys see the green laser pen?"

Hermione and Ginny nodded, they had noticed it.

"That's mine," Oliver told them. "We use it to help Ron back to our campsite."

Ron blushed as Oliver informed the girls of how useless he was when it came to finding the right way.

"I'll just point it up in the sky and Ron'll see it. Then he can just come that way, if I didn't have it Ron wouldn't ever find his way back," Oliver finished.

Then they were standing outside the big portal the British troop had made.

"Wow!" Most of the American boys said out loud.

"You guys built this?" Neville asked, amazed.

Luna nodded.

"Well, Draco, over there," she pointed out the unnatural platinum blonde boy standing inside their campsite. "He was the one to design the thing," she explained. "Thought the rest of us helped build it."

"It's so large!" Ron exclaimed.

"Mhm, sure is," Harry agreed.

"Guys! Meeting now!" Amber called at them from inside their camp area.

"Promise you'll stop by one of the days?" Ginny asked, looking at Harry.

"Sure," Ron answered, not noticing the glances Ginny were sending Harry.

"Later guys," Harry said and they were off again.

%&%&%&

"Isn't that Ron?" Luna asked Hermione sometime after dinner.

Hermione turned to see, and there was none other than Ron, Harry, Neville and Dean. They were all waving and Hermione made a hand gesture, making them come inside their campsite and towards them.

"You guys came!" Ginny exclaimed as she came jogging up to them from the other edge of their campsite.

"Yeah, didn't really have anything else to do," Harry answered her.

"Well, anyways, what do you want to do?" Ron asked them. "Or, if you can leave your campsite that is..." he trailed of, not really sure if they were permitted to leave by their leaders.

"So, who's this?" Draco asked. He walked up to the group and looked questioningly first at the boys, then over at Hermione.

"This is Harry, Neville, Ron and Dean," Hermione said, pointing at each of the boys. She had finally managed to get their names right after lunch.

"Hiya," Harry greeted Draco.

Draco answered with a courteous nod before he headed off again.

"So, should we head out somewhere?" Ron tried again.

"Sure, let me just get my shirt," Ginny said. She ran to her tent and was quickly back.

"Let's go, yeah?"

"Hermione, Luna, guys wait up!" Seamus came running after them.

"Hey, what's up?" Hermione asked Seamus as he came up to them.

"Just going to the kiosk, what are you guys up t'?" he answered her.

"Dunno yet," Ron answered for them.

"Oh, well," Seamus shrugged.

Seamus fell into conversation with Dean, walking a couple of steps behind the others. Dean ended up going to the kiosk with Seamus, leaving Ron, Harry and Neville with Ginny, Luna, Hermione and Lavender.

"C'mon, wanna check out the dance party?" Harry asked the girls.

"Dance party?" Ginny asked surprised.

"Mhm, it's by the sun I think," Harry answered with a nod.

"Let's go then!" Lavender squealed a bit loud.

They ran the last of the way to the sun, and they could clearly hear the music blasting out.

Together they all made their way into the large crowd.

Neither of the boys seemed interested in dancing.

"Join in!" Ginny shouted at them.

They still didn't do anything, making Ginny take to extreme measures.

Getting close to Neville, she stood with her back to him, placing both his hands on her hips, trying to make him movie to the beat with her.

The music was blasting out loud, but the sign on the stage said Colombian night!

Shakira's 'Waka Waka' was now being played loudly, and Neville had just started trying to dance.

Lavender dragged Harry closer, getting him to try and dance.

Luna was in her own world, dancing and humming to herself.

This left Ron and Hermione, and Ron was blushing like mad. Hermione looked at him, wondering if she should make him dance with her.

While she was debating this with herself Ron tried moving in beat with the music.

It made Hermione want to laugh, but she couldn't laugh. He was trying at least, which was more than what could be said about the number of boys standing outside the crowd, not dancing, just watching.

They danced for a rather long time. When the music stopped, they just had to laugh for a while, all of them.

Then a guy came walking around with a large basket, handing out something to everyone. They were all handed a bracelet.

"All handmade, from Colombia," the guy told them with a smile.

Hermione thanked the guy before she put on hers. The rest of the teens followed her example and put the bracelet on.

"Wanna see our Campsite?" Ron asked them, and the girls nodded enthusiastically.

Ron and Harry lead the way, walking the short distance from the sun to their campsite.

When they got there, they were greeted by a group of guys in the age of 14-18. On one end of the table the boys were sat at, sat a man that had to be their leader.

"Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Lavender, this is Remus Lupin," Harry introduced them.

Lupin nodded to the girls with a smile. It was nice to see that his boys were making friends outside of their troop.

"Just call me Lupin," he told the girls.

Some of the younger boys by the table stared a bit at the girls. Most of them were covered by pimples and had greasy hair. Surely they hadn't found the showers yet.

"Well, we better be off now, we have to be back by eleven," Hermione told the boys.

"Want us to walk you back?" Ron offered them.

"Sure," Lavender was quick to say.

They bid goodbye to Lupin and started making their way back to the British campsite.

Harry, Ginny and Lavender was walking in the front, discussing something or other. Behind them came Luna and Neville, Luna telling about her father's magazine. Hermione and Ron were walking in the back, a couple of steps behind Luna and Neville.

They were walking in silence, neither of them sure what to say.

In the end it was Hermione who broke the silence.

"I had fun today," she told with a soft smile.

"Me too," Ron nodded, grinning lopsided at Hermione. He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his neck. "So..."

"Um, you know what you're doing tomorrow?" Hermione asked him.

If they were lucky, maybe they'd have the same activity tomorrow too. It could be more fun if they did it together.

"Uh, dunno really. Oliver takes care of that stuff, I don't really care much," he told her, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"I guess it doesn't matter much," Hermione answered him quietly.

They were closing in on the British campsite now, and they all stopped outside the portal.

"This was fun!" Luna declared to them all.

The rest of them nodded.

"We should repeat this one day," Harry suggested.

"Mhm," Ginny said.

"We'll see then, we have hiking in not so many days, so I guess we could do it the day after or something," Hermione suggested to the rest of them.

"You guys! Hurry up!" Amber called at them from the campsite.

"Night!" They all said to each other.

The boys left their campsite, walking back to their own and the girls went into theirs.

%&%&%&

"So, you and Ron? "Ginny asked Hermione with a raised eyebrow.

Hermione blushed a bit.

"I guess he's not bad looking," she stated. "You and Harry?" she asked Ginny in return.

"I don't know, I think I like him, but Dean's rather handsome too," she told Hermione with a sigh. "I really hope we get to spend some more time together," Ginny said, biting her lip a bit.

"Girls, off to bed. You can talk about boys tomorrow," Amber told them with a wink.

She chased Hermione and Ginny into their tents, smiling to herself. It was nice to see Hermione making some friends. Usually people thought her a big know-it-all, and most people therefore tended to avoid her if they could.

**A/N: Hope you guys like this (: I've worked hard on it, and I had originally decided that I should update ever Tuesday, but you get this early since I have my oral exam on Tuesday. So R&R, tell me what you think, you'll get a cookie if you do! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Teenage dreams in a teenage circus__  
><em>_Running around like a clown on purpose__  
><em>_Who gives a damn about the family you come from?__  
><em>_No giving up when you're young and you want some_

_We Are Golden - Mika_

%&%&%&

The forth day Hermione woke up to Luna and Ginny talking.

She untangled herself from her sleeping bag and got dressed. Then she took on her raincoat on top of the rest of her clothes.

Exiting the tent, she found Amber sitting by one of the tables they had been given when arriving at the camp. It looked like the kind you would find in a park with a bench on each of the long sides.

"Good morning," Hermione was greeted by Amber.

"Morning," Hermione answered her in reply as she sat down next to her.

"So, who's this Ron?" Amber asked Hermione with a mischievous smile.

Hermione blushed a bit.

"Um, just one of the guys we hung out with yesterday," she told, biting her lip a bit.

"Y'know, when I was at a jamboree, I had a camp boyfriend," Amber told her with a small wink.

Hermione blushed once again. "It's not like that..." she tried explaining, but Amber didn't want to listen.

"Want to help me with breakfast?" she asked Hermione while standing up from her seat.

Hermione just sat there, before she agreed to help Amber and made her way towards the makeshift benches they had made to cook on.

The rest of the troop seemed to be getting up by now and people spilled out of the tents placed around their campsite.

Some of the other scouts joined them, helping to make breakfast for them all.

%&%&%&

The activity they had that day mainly focused on pollution and what people alone or in a group could do to do their best to stop this.

They finished quickly, not sure how that the activity was supposed to last the whole day. They finished by lunchtime and Ginny and Lavender bribed Hermione into letting the patrol go do what they wanted.

The girls, mainly Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Lavender took the opportunity to head back to the sun. There they had lunch at the small café that was placed right by the sun.

It actually looked like a small town's centre with the large, white plastic tents placed around the scene and the sun.

They hung around there for a while, hoping their leaders hadn't seen any of the other scouts in their patrol wandering around on their own. Even though they were old enough to take care of themselves, or should be at least, they weren't supposed to walk around when they were supposed to be at activities.

"So Lavender, any of our American friends you find red, blue or both?" Ginny said, wiggling an eyebrow, making Hermione and Luna laugh.

"Oliver isn't too bad, neither is Dean," she told the rest of the girls.

Ginny eyed Lavender for a while, she didn't really know the girl, only that she was rather annoying and few of the teens in their troop seemed to like her.

"Well, at least it looked like Neville found his goddess," Ginny notified the others.

"What?" Hermione asked, she hadn't seen Neville eying any of them the day before.

Ginny made a gesture towards Luna.

"Wow, really?" Luna said in her usual dreamy voice.

Ginny nodded to her with a smile.

"Anyways, it was fun to hang out with them last night," Ginny declared and the rest of them nodded. It had been fun.

"Do you think it's okay if we stop by them tonight?" Lavender asked no one in particular.

Ginny shrugged. She probably wouldn't join Lavender anyways, even if she did go to the boys. And she didn't want to seem desperate. "Do whatever you feel like."

"I might go then," Lavender said, mostly to herself.

Ginny sent Hermione one of her looks, the one only the two of them understood.

%&%&%&

At first they didn't understood what was going on.

The cheering only came closer and closer, but they couldn't see any larger crowd then the usual groups of about ten people that came walking past their campsite every now and then.

Then they suddenly understood it as the French campsite next to them started cheering too.

The skies were opening up, leaving a clear blue sky in its way.

It was one of those experiences that you only have one time in your life. It was so beautiful, something they all knew they would never see again in their lives.

Hermione gave Ginny a hug and they laughed a bit, before they went back to cooking.

%&%&%&

"See, it's easy," Hermione exclaimed to the others.

Since they had finished dinner, they had all been doing a clapping game, using a cup each. When several of the others had managed to do it right too, they started switching cups, adding the move into the routine.

Ginny had finally managed to get it right, but Lavender and Luna still didn't manage it quite right yet. Seamus sat next to Hermione, laughing because of Lavender's bad try at it; he himself had been one of the first ones to get it right.

"Guys, you know it's ruining the tables, right?" Draco asked as them as he stopped y the table.

They all stopped and looked down on the table, true as it was, there were becoming small bump in the table where they had hit it hard with their cups.

"Don't worry, no one really cares," Amber told them with a smile as she heard what Draco told them.

Draco shrugged and walked away.

"I have to go to the loo," Lavender announced and was followed by a couple of the other girls in their troop as she went towards the port-a-potties placed about 200 yards away from their campsite.

"Think we should go see the American boys?" Ginny asked Hermione and Luna with a small smile.

"Sure," Hermione answered with a smile.

Luna nodded in agreement.

"Can I come too?" Seamus asked them, wanting to see if Dean was up to talk some politics with him again tonight.

"If you want to," Ginny answered him and not five minutes later they were on their way to their camp.

When they were close to the American campsite they discovered that someone had started some sport, one guy jumping over a lot of others. He was surprisingly good at it, jumping above at least four guys standing on hands and knees.

"Ginny! Hermione! This way," Ron shouted, standing behind some tents inside their campsite.

They all walked over there, and Dean found his way to them, eagerly joining in on a conversation with Seamus.

Harry and Neville came crawling out of one of the tents, standing up and greeting the girls.

"We were just wandering if you guys wanted to do something," Ginny said, addressing the boys.

"Yeah, sure," Harry answered her as he used a finger to slide his glasses further up on his nose.

"Can we please leave this place? It's getting rather crowded," Dean said, taking a moment away from his conversation with Seamus, indicating to the people who had gathered around them to watch the guy jump.

"Sure," Hermione said.

They all made their way between the tents and out to the paths that swirled between different campsites.

"What do you want to do?" Hermione asked all of them.

No one really answered, Ron and Harry just shrugged.

"Anyone know if they closed the hamster balls for the night?" Harry asked.

"No idea," Ron answered.

"I think we should go check it out," Ginny declared, eager to try them herself.

They made their way towards the centre of their sub camp, in the end discovering that they had closed down the hamster balls for the night.

"Fuck," Ron exclaimed, running a hand through his shaggy ginger hair.

"Language!" Hermione said sharply to him. She had never liked swearing, no matter who it was that did it.

Ron looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "Really?" he asked her, sounding surprised.

"Yes Ronald," she said with a huff. He had revealed the night before that his full name was Ronald, and she found it appropriate to address with by his full name as she was annoyed with him.

Harry sniggered a bit to himself, and she could see that Neville wanted to laugh, but didn't. She looked too scary for him to dare that.

"What do we do then?" Ginny asked the group, wanting to draw the attention away from Hermione and Ron.

"We could head back to our camp I guess," Seamus suggested.

They all looked around at the others, but no one said anything against the suggestion just made.

"Your camp it is then," Harry declared.

The group made their way there, Luna and Neville and Ginny talking about how the day had been, Seamus and Dean some steps behind the others talking about politics and God knows what. Hermione was talking to Ron and Harry about American high school, wanting to know how it was. Ron was constantly rolling his eyes, not really believing that Hermione was that interested in the school system in the USA.

As they reached the camp they were greeted by Amber, who wiggled her eyebrows at Hermione. She didn't respond, just ignored Amber and lead the other over to a table and they all sat down.

They all continued talking, but were soon interrupted by Neville asking a question.

"What have you done with the table?" he asked as he traced the tabletop with his fingers.

Hermione looked down and saw all the marks they had made that morning, doing their cup game.

"We have this game thingy, want to see?" Ginny said.

"Sure," the boys answered and nodded.

Luna got up and fetched cups for all of them.

"1, 2, 3," Ginny said out loud and they all started.

In the start they did it in a rather slow tempt, letting the boys see what they were doing. But as they did it, they increased the speed and in the end Hermione lost grip of her cup, falling out and making them all lose concentration.

They all started laughing.

After the laugher had died down they were approached by Lavender.

"Guys!" she squealed as she sat down by the table, squeezing in between Dean and Ginny.

Ginny rolled her eyes, Lavender was rather obvious.

"So, you want to learn how to do it?" Luna asked, her dreamy voice cutting the silence.

"We could give it a try," Harry answered for the lot of them.

Harry and Neville tried to watch Luna do it, but failed when trying to copy her. Hermione went through it step by step with Ron and Dean, both boys managing to almost do it right when they went slow. Ginny was glaring at Lavender, who seemed obvious to it, just doing the routing by herself a couple of times.

"Really, I can't do it!" Harry exclaimed loudly after a while.

"Sure you can," Hermione told him with an encouraging smile.

"I've got no beat Hermione, I couldn't play a drum if I wanted to," Harry said, sounding like he wanted to laugh of himself.

"Maybe we should play a game instead then?" Seamus suggested.

"You know any good games?" Ginny asked him. She felt like they were a bit too old to play games, even if they had seen many other scouts their age playing on the open fields around the camp.

"That's a great idea," Ron exclaimed. He hadn't totally managed to get the cup game right yet, so he really just wanted to forget about it at this moment.

"We learned some games earlier today, some Swedish scouts showed us," Harry told the lot of them.

"Turtle!" Neville exclaimed loudly.

"Sure, let's play turtle," Harry said with a nod.

Harry and Neville started getting up from the benches, and the rest of them followed their lead.

"Everyone, make a ring," Harry instructed. "Can we use your scarf Ginny? Okay then, these are the rules: We start with both our feet touching the neighbours feet, still in a ring. One of us are going to lay down the scarf, it can be outside the ring, and then the person who put it down gets to decide who shall pick it up. Then the person who's going to pick it up have to do it, but can only move one foot and once you have put your foot or arm you can't remove it from the ground. If you lose your balance and fall, or just move a hand or a foot when it's not your turn, you're out of the game."

Harry gently put the scar on the ground behind him, as far away as he could reach. "Oh, and no throwing the scarf," he added in the end. "Ron, you first."

They played for a while, and after ten minutes they were all tangled up in each other.

"I'm so glad you guys agreed to play this game," Harry said out loud as Luna was trying to get to the scarf.

"Why?"

"Because, the guys in our troops are all homophobes, this would be touching, and touching another guy is scary," Dean explained.

"Really?" Ginny asked. "This is nothing! Just a bit of fun." She had gotten over them being too old to play, it was too much fun not to do it.

"Mhm," Ron agreed with her. "But we have 14 year olds, they're the worst."

"They sure are," Harry agreed.

Then there was a small thud and an annoyed Lavender was the first one out of the game.

%&%&%&

"So, who's Ron?" Amber asked Ginny in a low voice. They were about to sit down by the campfire Draco had just started.

They had brought over some benches and placed them in a square around the campfire as it was getting dark.

"Ron's the red head," Ginny answered Amber in an equal low voice, not wanting anyone to hear them.

They were all taking a place on the benches, filling them up.

Hermione, who had been busy clearing everything off the tables, as to not have it all wet when they woke up, didn't get any place.

"Here, have my seat," Ron said, getting up.

"No, sit down, you're the guest," Hermione insisted.

"Ladies firs," Ron said back to her.

"No!" Hermione exclaimed.

"See, just push the bench back a bit and I'll sit down in the front." Hermione said, making them push back the bench a bit.

Hermione sat down with her knees up to her chest.

They started talking, breaking into several different conversations.

"You sure you don't want my seat?" Ron asked Hermione.

Hermione turned her head to face him.

"I'm sure, but thank you for asking," she said in a low voice.

The time went by quickly. As Ginny stood to get a sweater, since it had begun to get colder, she noticed something in the corner of her eye.

To her right sat Ron and Hermione, still in the same places, but Hermione was leaning against Ron's legs and he was, without thinking about it, playing with some of Hermione's hair.

Ginny smiled softly to herself, the two of them were rather cute.

"Sooo, guys? Tell me, where are you from?" Amber asked the boys with a one of her clever smiles.

"We're from California," Harry answered her. "But most of our troop is from Texas."

"Wow, bad planning," Amber said. "And how old are you all?"

"I'm 17," Harry was the first to answer.

"Me too," Ron added.

"I'm turning 18 in about a month," Dean told.

"I'm 17 too," Neville said.

"So you're all in High School then?"

"Yepp," Dean gave a nod.

Hermione glanced over at Amber. What was she doing? Was she trying to scare away the boys or something? Then she remembered the conversation they had that morning. It made Hermione want to drag her away from the lot of them. It seemed like Amber never knew when to shut up.

One of the other leaders came up to the campfire and said something in a low voice to Amber.

"Well look at the time! I think it's about time you boys head back to your own campsite. At least we'll be throwing our kids into their tents," Amber said out loud.

"Sure," Harry said.

The group around the campfire wasn't there for long as the British teens went to get ready to sleep and Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Lavender followed the boys to their portal.

"G'night," Harry said to the girls.

"Night," Ginny answered, but reached out and hugged Harry.

The rest of them followed the example and hugged each other before the boys left.

Ron was the last one to hug Hermione.

To Hermione, the hug was perfect. Ron was tall enough to lean his head on top of hers and she leaned her head against his chest. She could smell him, it was a kind of earthy smell, like grass and apples, and was it spearmint toothpaste?

In the end, Ron discovered the rest of them looking knowingly at him and Hermione, so he reluctantly let go of her.

"Night," he said in a low voice before the boys took off. He was thankful that it was dark outside, maybe it covered most of his blush?

**A/N: Aww, hope you guys liked it! It's me celebrating having finished my oral exam^^ I might go back later and edit this chapter a bit, because I found it rather hard to write... And thanks for the lovely reviews you have all given to me! Keep them coming, because I really appreciate them :) That's all for now, so see ya in a week *waves* **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Let him know that you know best__  
><em>_Cause after all you do know best__  
><em>_Try to slip past his defense__  
><em>_Without granting innocence_

_How to save a life – The Fray_

%&%&%&

In the middle of the night Hermione was woken up by sounds and a light.

She blinked a couple of times, before she saw who was standing with the torch, aiming it at Ginny.

"Common Hermione, draw a moustache," Seamus told her in a loud whisper.

Hermione shook her head, she was not going to draw on Ginny with the marker Seamus was holding out to her.

"Don't be a party-pooper!" Draco exclaimed, him too in a loud whisper.

"Don't you dare!" It came from a half awake Ginny.

Instead of answering anyone, Hermione simply turned around and laid down to sleep instead.

Ginny sniggered at the boys, before she noticed the light was leaving, meaning the boys had left their tent, probably to go draw on someone else.

Hermione smiled to herself before she closed her eyes and drifted back into sleep.

%&%&%&

"Up and rise sunshine!" Amber exclaimed loudly, as she was standing in the gap of the tent.

Hermione groaned and turned around, facing away from Amber. It became a bit harder to get up from her sleeping bag every morning.

"Don't wanna," Ginny groaned in a voice indicating she wasn't fully awake yet.

"Guys! Up and rise, it's a new day!" Amber said in a voice too sweet for this early in the morning.

When nobody reacted to her comment, Amber stepped into the tent and started tearing at Hermione's sleeping bag.

In the end, Hermione gave up and reluctantly left the warm comfort of her sleeping bag and got dressed in shorts and a tank top. It was bright sun outside, and rather warm with no clouds as far as anyone could see.

It looked like it was going to be a nice and sunny day.

The girls all helped each other with putting on sunscreen, none of them wanted to get burned the first day with real sun.

%&%&%&

Activities were more of the talking sort, about peace and war, world economy and ethics.

As they finished they gathered together and went back to their campsite.

When they came there, they could see that the rest of their troops were gathered along with their leaders.

"Guys, we just have a few messages to you before you can run along and do what you want," one of the leaders said.

They went and joined the circle, listening in as their leaders spoke.

"Today it's friendship day, and it's decided that all troops are going to either visit or get a group of visitors for dinner, so we switch two patrols.

Ginny turned to Hermione with a bright smile. "We could ask the boys," she whispered.

"Would you please let me finish?" the leaders asked, looking strictly at Ginny.

She gave a short nod and let the leader continue.

"I have already made a deal with another troop. They are from Bulgaria, and so two of our patrols are going to have dinner at their place and two of their patrols are coming here. I suggest that Hermione's and Draco's patrols stay here and Seamus' and Parvati's patrols go to the Bulgarian's. Is there any questions?"

No one said a thing.

"Well, you all have to be back here by 6, that's when the Bulgarian's are coming," the leader announced before she dismissed them and the troop scattered around.

"Why! Why couldn't she just have let us ask someone? Someone we actually wanted to sit through a dinner with, instead of making it all awkward for us instead?" Ginny asked out loud, not really talking to someone special.

"Gin, you know it'll be easier this way. I bet half of us wouldn't find someone, or wouldn't be brave enough to ask anyone," Hermione tried to reason.

"Still, we could've had dinner with the boys instead of some random Bulgarian people," Ginny said, pouting a bit.

"I bet they are perfectly nice," Hermione tried to tell Ginny with a small smile.

Truth was, she would much rather have dinner with the American boys too, instead of some Bulgarian's they didn't know. It would probably be much more pleasant than the awkward conversations they probably would end up having.

"I think it will be fun," Luna said with a bright smile.

"Hey, I need the loo. Anyone else?" Ginny said, ending their previous conversation.

"Sure," Hermione said. She was tired of always going up there alone, so she'd rather go now with Ginny.

"See you later Luna," Ginny said and waved a bit at the other girl.

They started making their way to the port-a-potties, but stopped halfway there.

"That's Harry!" Ginny exclaimed.

He was running around on one of the empty areas, playing football with a bunch of other scouts.

"And there's Ron," she said, pointing him out to Hermione.

Suddenly, it looked like Harry had seen them, as he stopped up and waved at them from the other side of the field. Then it looked like Ron recognized them too, because he also waved at them not long after.

Hermione and Ginny waved back, but started making their way towards the port-a-potties again.

"What's up?" they heard suddenly, and turned around to see Harry right behind them and Ron running across the field to catch up with them.

"Oh, we're just heading to the loo," Ginny told Harry.

Ron caught up with them and the boys waited for them a little bit away from the toilets.

"Are you guys also having someone over for dinner?" Hermione asked the boys as they started making their way back to the British campsite.

"Yeah, I think we're having the German troop over, they live right across the path from us," Harry said, not sounding very enthusiastic.

"Our leader invited some Bulgarians over," Ginny said with a sigh.

"It can't be that bad," Harry told her with a smile. "You'll live, and I bet it'll be fun," he tried to say, but it didn't seem like Ginny wanted to listen.

"I guess we could hang out a bit afterwards," Ron suggested.

"We'd like that," Ginny answered him, now with a slight smile on her face.

"Awesome," Harry said.

"But we probably should head back to our campsite now, the German people are probably coming soon," Ron said, not sounding too happy about it.

"See you later then," Hermione said with a small smile.

They should head back to their own campsite, it wasn't long until 6 o'clock.

They exchanged byes and hugs before they split up and took the shortest paths to their respective campsites.

%&%&%&

"I'm Viktor," one of the Bulgarian boys said, presenting himself with a thick accent.

"I'm Hermione, and this is Ginny," Hermione told him with a smile, pointing to Ginny.

"And I'm Luna."

"Nice too meet you," Viktor said with a small smile.

It didn't seem like the other Bulgarian boys talked a lot, at least not much English. They had only introduced themselves so far, but Viktor had said that two of the other boys had volunteered to help cook the food.

"So, first off, someone have to go get the food," Hermione said, taking the logical approach to the situation.

"Luna and I can do that," Ginny said quickly.

"Sure, but maybe you should let one of the Bulgarian boys come with you?" Hermione suggested, they were supposed to do all of it together after all.

Viktor said something to one of the boys and he gave a short reply.

"Luke will go with you," he said shortly.

"Alright, let's go," Ginny said, dragging Luna with one arm and motioning for the boy to follow them.

"So, if the two other boys back there do the cooking, we could take the dishes afterwards?" Hermione asked and Viktor gave her a short nod.

Hermione showed the other boys where to find the things they would need to cook, like casseroles and such.

They made it all ready and as soon as the other three came back with the food, they started cooking.

Hermione and Viktor sat by one of the tables, cutting up vegetables while having a rather nice conversation about everything and nothing. It was far less awkward than what they had expected it to be. Hermione actually had a rather nice time. Viktor was nice, and as the night went Luke started talking a bit too. The last two boys didn't know a lot of English, and mostly talked between themselves.

The meal was nice. In the start they had been a bit suspicious as Viktor told them the boy in charge of the cooking never used a recipe when cooking, but it tasted really good.

"So you want to study English?" Hermione asked Viktor as they were clearing the table.

"Yes, very much, it's something I'd do beside football," he told her.

Earlier he had told them all how he was a rather good football player and wanted to do it professionally. He had even been offered a contract with a well know team in Bulgaria.

"That's interesting," she told him.

The others had sat down with the other patrols by the other tables, wanting to find someone to talk to.

They carried the dirty dishes over to the makeshift bench they had made to cook on.

Hermione poured the warm water from the casserole and into the small tub they used to wash the dishes in. Just as she was about to put the dirty dishes inside the tub, it slid down between the wooden pieces holding it up and right down onto the ground. As the bottom hit the ground, the water splashed up and soaked the whole front of Viktor's shirt.

Hermione blushed immediately, and it became worse when she noticed that the T-shirt that was originally white had now turned see-through. She could see that Viktor had nice muscles, probably from the football.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed out loud. She quickly ran and got a towel for him to dry up a bit. "I'm so, so sorry!"

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault," he replied calmly as he happily took the towel from Hermione and tried to dry himself up a bit.

"What 'ave you done now?" Seamus asked her as he came up to them, wearing a grin on his face.

"Oh, just beat it Seamus!" she told him. She really didn't need his teasing at the moment.

He put his hands up in the air, like in surrender before he walked away again.

%&%&%&

"Just relax Ginny, 5 more minutes whit this and we can go do what we want to do," Hermione told Ginny in a low voice.

"I don't want to," Ginny replied to her, a bit annoyed.

They had been forced to go around their sub-camp and do some small tasks. Basically, it was to get people to sign their paper, as the paper told them some things they had to ask people from other countries about and remember.

They finished quickly and in the end Ginny ran to the place where they would get their "prizes" for finishing the task.

"Seriously! It's a freakin' bracelet!" Ginny exclaimed loudly as she handed out the bracelets to the others.

They all put them on, noticing that it told what sub-sub-camp they lived in. Their bracelet said "Visby", who according to the leaders was a Swedish place.

"Ginny! Hermione!" Harry shouted out to them.

They could see Harry, Ron, Neville and Oliver walking up to them.

"Hello," Hermione greeted them with a large smile. "Oh, everyone, this is Viktor and Luke," Hermione said, motioning to the Bulgarian boys, the two other they had eaten with had bailed on them about 20 minutes earlier.

"Hello," Viktor said politely, and Luke gave a short nod.

"Hey," Harry said with a small smile.

"So, you guys ready to go?" Ron asked the girls.

"Yes," Ginny answered quickly. She didn't really like the Bulgarian boy too much.

"Goodbye then," Viktor said with a nod. "I should probably go change," he said with a small wink at Hermione.

She blushed and gave a short goodbye.

"Hey, we have something to show you guys!" Harry said, enthusiastically. He started leading the girls away from the British campsite and towards their own.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Well you see, I kind of managed to spill a lot of water on Viktor earlier, his t-shirt got all wet." She blushed as she told this to Ron.

"You what?" Ron looked at her with a look that could kill.

Hermione looked back at him, she clearly didn't like the way he was reacting. "First of Ronald, I did not do it on purpose! Second, why do you care?"

The two of them had stopped now, and was facing each other, blocking the path.

Harry and Ginny, who had been walking in the front stopped too, stopping the rest of them by doing this. They all watched with prying eyes at the fighting teens.

"I... I... I know for a fact that Viktor is too old for you!" Ron said out, not really giving any explanation for why he cared.

"Oh really? Why is that so? And what makes you think he'd be interested in me?" she was glaring daggers at him.

"You should have seen him! He was clearly flirting with you!"

By now Harry had started ushering the group away, leaving Hermione and Ron to themselves. Or, at least no one who knew them were watching anymore.

"Let me enlighten you Ron, Viktor is just as old as you, maybe a couple of months older! And I know for a fact that he has a girlfriend back home! He even showed me her ring that she gave to him before he left!" Hermione was talking more calmly now. She had noticed that several of passer-by's had stopped to watch the two of them argue loudly with each other.

"Come of it Hermione! He was flirting, I know flirting when I see it!" Ron argued back, still loudly.

"Just give up Ron! I'm tired of this," Hermione said before she turned around and walked back to her campsite.

As she did so, she didn't look back at him. But somewhere inside, she hoped that he would come running after her, or just shout out to her. But no one came after her, and no one shouted.

She felt like crying, but she knew that Amber would have loads of questions if she did. She'd probably have enough of them no matter if she cried or not, Hermione had told her sister-in-law that they were supposed to hang out with the American boys that night.

Hermione ran a hand through her hair, it got caught about halfway through. "Fuck," she said out loudly to herself before she walked through the big portal.

%&%&%&

"Where is Hermione?" Ginny asked Ron as he came walking towards them.

"Eh, she kind of... ran off," Ron told her, looking down on the ground as he did so.

"What?" Harry asked, not quite believing that Ron had managed to screw up that much.

"Yeah, we fought and then she ran off..."

"Yeah, we heard that," Oliver said with a sly smile.

Harry glared at Oliver, Ron had enough trouble as it was.

"You really should apologize to her," Ginny said shortly, not impressed that Ron had managed to annoy Hermione that much.

"I really should head back and see how she's doing," Ginny stated, biting her lip slightly.

Luna nodded. "We should," she agreed.

Now Harry glared a bit at Ron too. Ron's answer was a facial expression that told Harry that Ron knew that he had screwed up.

"Bye guys," Ginny said shortly and dragged Luna with her towards their own campsite again.

As soon as the girls couldn't be seen from their camp Harry looked strictly at Ron. "Now tell us what happened."

Ron sighed and sat down on the ground, the other boys taking his lead, wanting to hear what happened between him and the British girl.

"Well, I dunno, I just don't like that Viktor guy. Something with how he looked at her I guess." Ron put his face in his hands for a short while before he sighed heavy and looked up again.

"I get it," Harry told him with a reassuring smile. "I didn't like that guy too much either, he was okay I guess."

"Thanks dude," Ron sad to Harry.

"And when I tried to tell Hermione that he wasn't right for her, she wouldn't listen to me. That's pretty much it," he told, shrugging his shoulder.

"No matter what, you should apologize tomorrow," Neville told wisely.

"Why should I Nev? I'm not wrong about it, she is! Just because the dude's got a girlfriend back home, that's like hundreds of miles away," Ron said hotly.

Neville put one hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Dude, just apologize! Girls don't care about who is right and who isn't, just do it!" Neville told him.

"Wow, when did you become an expert on girls?" Harry asked, eying Neville.

"Dunno," he answered and shrugged a bit, even though the boys could see that he was blushing a bit.

%&%&%&

"Hermione?" Ginny asked as she entered their tent.

"Yeah?" Hermione answered.

As Ginny sat down she could see that her eyes were red-rimmed, as if she had been crying not long ago.

"Where is Luna?" Hermione asked the other girl.

"I told her to stay outside, make people go away from our tent. We need to talk a bit," Ginny said, biting her lower lip. She wasn't sure how Hermione would react.

No answer.

"What happened with you and Ron? You seemed to be hitting it off," Ginny stated.

"I just... I don't know, I thought so too, but then Viktor came along and everything just, got all jumbled up and..." Hermione drew her legs up to her chest and looked at her feet. A few tears ran down her cheek and she tried to dry them away with her hands.

"Men are pigs," Ginny told Hermione with a slight smile. She moved to sit beside Hermione and put one arm around the other girl's shoulders.

"Thanks," Hermione said in a quiet voice.

"No problem." Ginny said, trying to make Hermione smile again. "Looking forwards to tomorrow?"

"A bit, I just hope we don't get one of the long routs," Hermione said simply.

The day after they would be going on a hike, but one of the advances was that they would have the day after off, completely and Amber had promised to go with them to the beach that the whole camp had access to.

"I think Draco had some chocolate earlier..." Ginny trailed off. She had _that _grin plastered on her face.

"Let's go," Hermione said with a slight smile, almost forgetting what had happened by now.

The two of the quickly got up from their seats in the tent and ran after Draco, who didn't quite understand what was happening, they came so suddenly.

**A/N: Yeah, that was that. The first big Romine fight! What do you think of me pulling Viktor into this? I promise though, that he won't be a major character, not at all. **

**Thanks for the lovely reviews I get! I just want to get up, find you wherever you are and give you a huge teddy bear hug. I honestly love to get reviews. Whether it is questions, concerns, constructive criticism, something you want to tell me you love in the fic, anything really. So if you have something you want to tell me, leave a review or send me a PM :) **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_You're insecure,__  
><em>_Don't know what for,__  
><em>_You're turning heads when you walk through the door,__  
><em>_Don't need make-up,__  
><em>_To cover up,__  
><em>_Being the way that you are is enough,_

_What makes you beautiful – One Direction_

%&%&%&

"I can't believe this!" Ginny exclaimed loudly.

The day had been a mix between disappointment and fun.  
>The Swedish troop they were on the hike with were nice and together they had some fun. On the other hand, the leaders had taken the wrong way and they had to turn around two times. This had lead to taking a rather long break right by a house and they had ended up with having their own "photo shoot" using Luna's camera. In the end the leaders had figured out where they were supposed to go, and they had found their way to the place where the bus would come to take them back to camp.<p>

But they had been 45 minutes early, so they had to wait for the bus and when it had come there, the bus driver was obligated to take a 30 minutes break before he could drive again, this being some weir rule they had in Sweden.

None of them were happy with this, but Ginny was worst. She was the most likely person to go yell at the bus driver soon.

It didn't help that it was terribly warm outside and no one had any more water left.

Luckily the bus driver hadn't locked the bus and let them go inside to sit there in the shadow instead of staying outside.

Hermione almost fell asleep as they were there, waiting for the bus driver to drive them all back.

In the end the bus driver was ready to drive them back and they went back to the camp.

%&%&%&

"Guys, if anyone wants to go to the beach, we can leave in half an hour!" Amber announced as the whole troop was back after the hikes.

"We should go," Ginny suggested to Hermione and Luna. The other two nodded, agreeing with Ginny.

They all went inside their tent to change, putting on their bikinis underneath their clothes and packing their backpack for the beach.

Half an hour went fast and soon they were walking back to where the busses went from and they were on their way to the beach. All in all they were about 10 people, in addition to the three girls and Amber a few of the guys and two of the other girls had decided to come too.

The bus ride didn't take more than ten, fifteen minutes and they were soon laying down on the beach.

It was a beach with sand, which Hermione rather like.

Soon they were on their way out into the water. For being Sweden the water was warm, actually rather pleasant on the warm day. There was a slight breeze in the air and for a rather long while Hermione, Ginny and Luna played in the water.

They splashed water on each other, throwing over the others, laughing and joking around.

Then she spotted him.

He sat there, saying something to Amber as if nothing had happened. And there beside him, was Harry.

Ginny could see them too, and she gave Hermione a small, but firm shove towards the beach.

Hermione bit her lip, not sure if she wanted to talk to him. Or, she was sure she didn't really want to talk to him, but still, he was there and she knew she had to.

She started off with small steps, blaming her being so slow on the water. It's not like it's easy to walk in the water, is it? Then her steps got longer, more firm. In the end it was the longest strides she could manage in the water, and she was basically leaping as she closed in on where he was sitting.

She grabbed her towel and his hand, dragging him beside her, away from the prying eyes of Amber and the other people on the beach, and in between the trees some yards away, where it's harder to see and hear them.

"What's going on? Are you following us?" Hermione asked Ron harshly, glaring daggers at him as she did.

Ron rubbed the back of his neck a bit, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "We are not following you, it's not our fault that we are at the same place at the same time." He eyed her for a minute, like he was trying to figure out how mad she was at the moment. "Listen Hermione, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For yesterday," he told her, rubbing his neck again. He looked at her from underneath his ginger fringe.

Hermione looked at him, not quite believing this. "Really Ron? Because it looked like you meant it yesterday!"

"I just... I don't like that Viktor bloke, okay? Is that so wrong?" Ron asked, not wanting to sound like a douchebag.

"When Viktor is nothing but polite to you it's not nice," she told him sternly.

"I don't care if he was polite to me, was he polite to you? He looked like he wanted to devour you!" Ron exclaimed, but thought better of it. "I'm sorry, again, I just don't like the way he looked at you."

Hermione eyed him for a moment. "Well, thank you Ronald, but I think I can defend myself. When it's needed and Viktor was nothing else than polite to me, he was nice."

"Well, anyway, that's what I wanted to say," Ron told her, rubbing his neck once again, it was a bad habit he had developed as younger. "And maybe, you and the other's would like to hang out at our campsite tonight?" He looked hopeful at her.

Hermione bit her lip. "I would have to ask the others if they want, but I'm sure they'll say it's okay."

"All right, cool," Ron said with a slight smile. "I'll see you later then?"

Hermione nodded, and the two of them walked back to the beach where they found Ginny, Luna, Harry and Neville in a deep conversation.

They sat down with them and entered the conversation.

Hermione could see that Ginny wanted to ask what had happened, but she was sure she had the decency to wait until the boys left.

During the time they spend on the beach together, Hermione caught Ron looking at her several times. When she did, they would both quickly look down to the sand and blush.

%&%&%&

After showering, Hermione felt like a whole new person. It felt really good, and she was now looking forwards to spend the evening with the boys.

Dinner went fast and straight after they made their way over to the boys.

They found them sitting around a table, playing cards.

They exchanged hello's and soon they found themselves sitting around one of the tables, doing the cup game.

The boys quickly feel out of it, but the girls keep going at a rapid speed. It attracted the attention to several of the other American boys and even Lupin, their leader came to watch, looking amused at the girls doing the routine at a high speed.

Then Ginny lost grip of her cup and they all lost concentration, all of them laughing.

"We should check out the hamster balls!" Harry said, hoping they hadn't closed for the night yet.

"Sure!" Luna exclaimed, getting up with her usual dreamy smile.

The other's followed them to the large pool and they found that it hadn't closed yet.

"You go first," Harry told Ginny, sending her a small smile and a small shove towards the ball.

"Okay," Ginny answered, stepping into the ball. Then it got sipped up and filled with air through a large hose.

Then she was pushed into the water by the guy who watched over the pools. She instantly tripped and didn't manage to get up on her feet.

The whole group had to laugh at her as she struggled a few times as she almost got up, but landed on her butt again.

And so it was Hermione's turn to step into one of the balls. She felt the air get heavy as the ball was sipped up and the large hose spilled air into the ball to get it round again.

She too was pushed into the water, tripping and catching herself with her hands and knees.

She tried to stand a couple of times, but it felt impossible and after the third time she gave up, deciding that it hurt when she fell. It gave a weird sound and it felt like someone had smacked her hard when she fell against the plastic cover of the ball.

Hermione started crawling on her hands and knees, pushing the ball towards Ginny as she did it and she crashed into Ginny's ball on purpose.

She could see that Ginny was trying to tell her something, but she couldn't understand what she was saying. She couldn't really hear much at all, she could only hear the sound se made herself and a sound she decided had to come from the water underneath the ball as she moved.

Then she saw Ginny's ball disappear away from her, being pulled by the rope attached to it by the guy who worked there.

Then a minute later she could feel someone crash into her ball and she turned to find a grinning Ron.

"You asked for it!" she exclaimed, even though she knew Ron probably couldn't her what she was saying.

She used the next two minutes to try and crash into Ron's ball before she was pulled towards the edge of the pool and the air was let out of her ball as the guy opened the zipper and Harry took her place in the ball.

She joined the others, talking and making fun of Harry and Ron as they seemed to be racing down the pool.

%&%&%&

"Thanks, I've had a lot of fun today," Hermione told Ron.

The two of them were walking back to the British camp and by now it had gotten dark.

They had left the other's as Hermione had announced she needed to use the loo while they were on their way there all of them. Ron had volunteered to follow her to the closest port-a-potties while the others took the shortest path to the British camp.

"Yeah, and I'm glad you decided to forgive me," Ron said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

"No problem," Hermione said, keeping her eyes on her feet in front of her.

"And again, I'm sorry for my reaction," Ron excused himself.

"Really, we can forget it," she said, wanting to think about something else. She looked up at him, meeting his blue eyes in the dark, smiling a reassuring smile at him.

They were getting closer to the British camp now, but Ron grabbed a hold on Hermione and stopped her.

"Ron, is something wrong?" Hermione asked concerned.

"No... I just wanted to... Is that Harry? And Ginny?"

Hermione turned around and looked in the same direction as Ron was. And sure, there outside the portal to the British camp a couple, who looked suspiciously like Harry and Ginny were locked in an embrace and what looked like a heated kiss.

"Shh!" Hermione made Ron calm down and stop shouting. "It's cute," Hermione said, her voice a bit dreamy.

"What? Is that supposed to be cute?" Ron asked in disbelief. "It looks like they want to eat each other's faces!" He gestured towards their faces who looked like they had been glued together.

"You stop it," Hermione told him a bit sternly. "Ginny liked him."

"So? Harry liked her too, but that doesn't make it cute!"

Hermione hit Ron in the chest as hard as he dared.

"Ouch! Why did you do that?" Ron asked.

"Because," Hermione didn't bother to give him any better answer.

They watched Harry and Ginny for a few more minutes before Harry pulled away. Then they said something to each other, but Hermione and Ron couldn't hear what and then Harry turned around after one last kiss and started walking away.

Ginny went inside the British camp and Hermione turned back to Ron.

"Good night," she said, figuring it would be time for her to go inside the camp again.

"Night," Ron replied and leaned down a bit to hug her. He held her close, pressing her a bit into him.

"Sleep well," he breathed into her hair.

"You too," she told him as he loosened his grip a bit.

Hermione stood on her toes and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

Then Hermione turned and walked to the British camp. She turned once to see Ron still standing in the same spot, face flushed and a hand covering the cheek where she had kissed him.

**A/N: Yeah I know, bad bad girl. Short chapter and really delayed... Sorry, I had exams and sadly I have to put them above my writing :/ But I'm on vacation now so I'm going to try and start posting once a week again!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Same old apologizing as always for taking so long, but a big, BIG thanks to heronlove. You're PM meant a lot to me, and here is your wish, only 48 hours late. I hope you and everyone you know are ok, and to everyone else who had to go through the hurricane, I hope you're all okay! Heronlove is the one that always drags me back to what I know I love, but I feel like I don't have the time to do even though I know I actually do. So kudos to you for helping me see what I should have done ages ago!**

Chapter 6

_Tonight__  
><em>_We are young__  
><em>_So let's set the world on fire__  
><em>_We can burn brighter than the sun_

_We Are Young - Fun_

%&%&%&

The next morning Hermione woke to Ginny and Luna getting dressed.

"Morning sleepy head," Ginny greeted her with a cheery voice.

"Morning," Hermione more or less grunted.

"We're heading to the market now, so breakfast will be ready in about half an hour. You better be up by then," Ginny warned her as she and Luna crawled out of the tent.

"Bye!" Hermione called after them.

Since they had their hike the day before they had the whole day off and they were allowed to sleep in. As long as someone from each troop got to the market to pick up food for breakfast and lunch they could decide themselves how long they wanted to sleep.

But since she was awake anyways Hermione got up from her sleeping bag and dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top before she exited her tent.

"Hey," Amber greeted her as she walked over to the tables.

"Good morning," she greeted Amber back.

"Slept well?" the older girl asked her.

"Yeah, it was nice to be able to sleep in a bit," Hermione admitted as she took a seat on one of the benches.

"That's good," Amber replied with a smile.

"Yeah," Hermione gave a short nod.

"So, do you have any plans for today?"

"Yeah, or kind of. We, Ginny and Luna and I, were making plans to hang out with Harry, Ron and Neville today. However, we have no idea when they are getting up, since their leaders aren't so strict on bed times and such," Hermione shrugged.

"So maybe you would accompany me to the beach then?" Amber asked. "I'm going to offer to take whoever wants today too. Everyone were so nice and easy to take yesterday and since it's about the same temperature today I figured some of you would want to go."

"That sounds nice, I'll just have to talk to Ginny and Luna about it first."

"Do that," Amber said with a nod.

%&%&%&

"Boo!"

Hermione jumped as she was surprised by the voice from right behind her.

"Ron!" she exclaimed loudly as she turned around.

Hermione had done the dishes with Ginny, but Ginny had finished cleaning and Hermione was just wrapping up, drying the last items. The bench they had built to do the dishes at were pushed to the edge of their camp area, and the only thing that showed that Hermione was inside the British campsite was a thin rope that outlined their camp.

"Wow! Be careful with that thing!" Ron exclaimed as he saw the big kitchen knife Hermione was drying.

"That's what you get for scaring me," Hermione told him, hitting him lightly in the arm after putting down the knife. "You should be more careful yourself! I could have cut myself," she told him strictly. "Well, no matter, why are you here?"

"Can't I come here to see you? And Ginny and Luna?" He asked, playing a bit offended.

"Yes you can, but don't usually come alone," Hermione told him as she started to clear away the cutlery, putting it where it should go.

"Well, Harry was nowhere to be found and Neville was asleep," Ron shrugged.

"Oh, I'm just gonna go inside your camp," he told her shortly before he jogged up to the portal and inside, coming up to Hermione on the inside of the rope. "There," he smiled at her.

Hermione led him to the tables, finding Ginny and Luna playing cards with Seamus.

They all greeted Ron, but Ginny looked a bit disappointed. Probably because Harry wasn't there yet Hermione though to herself.

"Where's the others?" Ginny asked, sounding casual.

"Neville is sleeping, but I couldn't find Harry anywhere. Probably went to take a shower or something," Ron told.

"Well, we're going to the beach in an hour or so," Hermione explained.

"Cool, that sounds nice," Ron said.

"Maybe you should come with us," Luna offered.

"That would be nice," Ron agreed. "I guess I could get Harry and Neville to come too."

"You do that," Ginny said a tad too quick.

"So agreed then? Maybe you should ask your leader, just in case?" Ron asked, a bit unsure. From what he had been told from the British girls their leaders were pretty strict.

"It's no problem," Amber said with a smile. She came walking over to them, taking a seat on one of the benches. "As long as your leaders are okay with it and you take responsibility for yourself it's fine by me."

"Great, I'll head back there now and ask them," Ron said with a grin. Spending a day with the girls could be fun, if he and Hermione managed to be civil to one another that was.

"We'll walk you!" Ginny offered a tad too quick. She jumped off the bench and pulled Luna with her and so the four of them started making their way to American campsite.

%&%&%&

They all stepped off the bus and made their way the few hundred yards to the beach. They found an area that was still free off other people and put down their towels and started peeling of clothes, leaving only their bathing suits.

The girls felt like sunbathing for a little while, and Neville, Harry and Ron who had joined them stayed with them for a while, talking.

A few times Hermione caught Ron's eyes and they would both blush. It was actually a bit comic to see Ron blush, as his ears went almost as red as his hair.

"Who's up for some swimming?" Harry asked suddenly asked. He looked as if he had forgotten to use sunscreen as he was starting to go a bit red, especially on his shoulders.

"I'll join you mate," Ron answered, starting to get up alongside Harry.

Neville followed their example, clearly not quite comfortable staying alone with the girls, at least not in the state of undress they were at the moment.

"Wait up!" Hermione called after them and got up from the ground, running after them.

She didn't catch up with them before they were waist deep out in the water.

"You didn't wait," she fake pouted at the boys.

A moment later Ginny joined them too, but it seemed like Lune was happy tanning along with a few of the other's from their troop.

"Run faster next time," Harry told her with a smile.

After studying him for a moment Hermione moved her arms, splashing water into Harry's face.

"Watch it!" Ron exclaimed as he took a few steps backwards, clearly wanting to stay out of it.

Ginny laughed and splashed Ron, and so a full on fight broke out between all five of them.

It was hard to see, and not wanting the saltwater in her eyes, Hermione closed her eyes. Just a minute later she found herself being lofted from the ground by a strong pair of arms. Hermione shrieked and started kicking as she was hoisted across a shoulder.

"Stop kicking like a wildcat," Ron said, and the tone of his voice told her he was grinning.

"What are you doing?" she questioned, confused and surprised.

"Getting away from the fight," he told her cheekily.

As they reached the beach again Ron put her down. He was grinning cheekily at her and Hermione looked strict at him.

"Before you say anything, let me buy you an ice-cream," Ron said.

He started walking towards the other side of the beach where they had been told there was a kiosk.

Hermione, not quite sure what to do ran up to him and walked alongside him.

She hated that Ron, whom she hadn't known for a long time managed to make her feel so insecure and unsure. He confused her a lot, and still she felt drawn to him in some weird way.

"What is going on?" Hermione asked him.

"What'd you mean?" Ron asked her as they walked between all the towels lying around.

"What makes you think you can just carry me away like that?" she asked him fiercely.

"Did you have a problem with it?" Ron asked, suddenly stopping and turning to face her.

"Maybe I did," Hermione shot back at him, crossing her arms as she suddenly felt rather naked in her two-piece bathing suit.

"Get used to it," Ron told her in a sort of deal-with-it way.

"Why should I? If it does make me uncomfortable?" she asked him.

"Because 'Mione, that's me. If I feel like doing it I'll do it," he shrugged.

"Oh, so you'd just do it to Harry then? Or Ginny?" For some reason it felt like a stab in her chest when she thought about him doing it to Ginny or Luna.

"Yeah," he said shortly before he turned and kept on walking towards the kiosk.

Hermione sighed. She wasn't sure if she should follow him or just go back to the others.

Swallowing her pride, Hermione ran after Ron, only catching up with his long strides when he had reached the kiosk.

"I'm sorry okay. I just… I don't have a lot of guy friends, and, well, I'm not used to just being picked up," she apologized, even though it was hard to do.

"Then tell me," Ron said flatly as he moved with the line in front of the kiosk.

"I'm sorry, I'll do that next time, when I'm not comfortable," Hermione said calmly.

They reached the front of the line, and one of the guys standing in the kiosk asked what they wanted.

"One chocolate ice-cream," Ron told him before he looked to Hermione questioning.

"Oh, you still buying me…" she didn't even finish before Ron gave her a short nod. "I'll take the same," she told the guy in the kiosk.

"Thank you," she mouthed at Ron who then paid the guy as he handed them their ice-creams.

%&%&%&

Hermione entered the tent she shared with Ginny and Luna with a smile.

The two other girls seemed to be missing, probably on a trip to the loo or something.

As she changed into her PJ's and slipped into her sleeping bag she couldn't stop smiling.

Thinking of what had happened just 5 minutes earlier made it feel like she had butterflies in her stomach again.

A set of blue eyes haunted her dreams that night, along with a set of large hands and fiery red hair.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Yes, it's a short chapter… But hey, it's a chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who review, I really appreciate it, and the question is answered in this chapter and I'll try to get the next chapter up in not too long. Just a lot of stuff going on at school and with my online friends… **

Chapter 7

The stars collide  
>We come back to life<br>We come back to life  
>The sparks will fly<br>One look in your eyes  
>My heart's open wide<p>

Still Got Tonight – Matthew Morrison

%&%&%&

Ron woke up the morning, feeling refreshed and not at all sleepy, even though he usually did so.

As he got dressed he found that only a few of the other guys in his troop was up, Harry being one of them.

He walked up to Harry, who was in a conversation with Lupin.

"Harry? You have a minute?" Ron asked his buddy, rubbing the back of his neck with a large hand.

"Yeah, sure," Harry answered.

"Um, could we like…. head out of here?" Ron looked around himself, and even though most of the others were asleep he didn't want anyone to hear what he was going to tell Harry.

"Just be back for breakfast in an hour," Lupin told them as Harry got up to head out with Ron.

"We will!" Harry assured their leader.

Harry and Ron walked in silence for a little while, just walking around the campsite without any real destination.

"So? What did you want to talk about?" Harry asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the silence.

"So yeah…. Last night something happened…." Ron trailed off, turning a shade of violent red in his face and his ears.

"Oh?" Harry stopped and the two of them sat down on an old stone wall.

"Yeah… Last night I kinda bumped into Hermione. She was sent to do some errand for her leaders and well…"

_Ron wandered along the path between the campsites and as he walked he didn't really think about where he was going. He had found that when he was unable to sleep it really helped him to take a walk around the camp._

_Just as he was about to turn around and try to find the way back to his own camp he saw something he hadn't expected._

_About 100 yards in front of him he saw the familiar bushy hair of one familiar British miss._

_Not wanting to wake anyone around who might be asleep Ron started a light jog, catching up with the girl shortly after he had spotted her._

"_Hey!" he exclaimed. _

"_Hi!" Hermione sounded surprised, but he guessed that wasn't so weird. _

"_What are you doing around at this time?" Ron asked her as he followed her after she had made a sign for him to walk along. They had said good night about an hour earlier, because of the strict rules Hermione's leaders was still keeping up._

"_Oh, Amber had to send me on an errand for them. They had to get some papers, but I can't find the right place," she admitted._

"_Ah, I guess that makes sense," Ron shrugged._

_Hermione looked down on the map of the camp she had in one of her hands before she looked around herself._

"_I think it's here!" she exclaimed and pointed to a large white tent._

_Ron waited with her while she got the papers she was getting. She had been given Amber's ID card so that she would be taken as a leader and actually be given all the right papers._

_When she was given the papers they started walking away again. _

"_Want me to walk you back?" Ron asked Hermione._

"_I wouldn't mind," she smiled at Ron. _

_She looked tired form a long, but fun day, and she was starting to get a hint of a tan because of the constant sun._

"_So, dream tomorrow night, right?" Ron asked, trying to start a conversation._

"_Yes, we decided to head in early, so that we won't have to stand in such a long line. You're doing it too?" _

"_Mhm, Oliver doesn't care if we have to wait long or not, we're only the older ones anyways, so it's not like we have to drag around the 14 year olds until midnight," Ron shrugged. _

"_Oh, well. Have you hear anything about it?" _

"_Not much really, I just heard it was some weird tunnel thingy…" Ron sighed. _

"_We'll get a surprise then," Hermione smiled. _

"_I'm sure we will," Ron nodded in agreement. _

"_This is me," Hermione said softly as they were not far from the large portal. _

"_Oh, well, I guess it's goodnight then, again," Ron said and rubbed the back of his neck. _

"_Mhm," Hermione bit her lower lip. _

_They moved closer and hugged tightly. They hugged for a long while, neither of them willing to let go, but in the end Hermione reluctantly untangled her arms. However, before she had managed to move away Ron leant closer again and pecked her on the cheek. _

_Both of them blushed, but it wasn't too easy to see in the dark._

"_Night," Hermione whispered softly before she pecked Ron on the cheek too, just like he had done her only a moment earlier. _

"_Nigth," Ron answered her in a low voice. _

"Wow Ron, that's… You really like her don't you?" Harry asked and looked at his friend.

"I do, it's just so complicated. It's like… she lives in freaking England! It's so far away from The US, and I don't know what to do about it, because she's just perfect but we only have like a week left… and I'm starting to sound like a girl!" Ron exclaimed.

"I'm not going to argue with you on that one buddy," Harry grinned at Ron. "But seriously, if you like her, I dunno, kiss her? Or ask her to lunch with you or something?"

"Kissing Ginny certainly did it," Ron muttered.

"What? How do you know?" Harry glared at the other guy.

"You're not really careful you know, standing in plain sight for everyone to see it when you make out? Hermione and I saw you a couple of nights ago," Ron told him, a bit teasingly.

"Oh, I guess we deserved it," Harry shrugged. "We were going to tell you guys, just in a few days," Harry blushed a bit as he said it.

Ron gave him a claps on the back. "It's okay, Hermione and I aren't going to tell anyone if you don't want people to know," he reassured Harry.

"Thanks, we're not sure where it's going 's all. However, back to you and Hermione, yeah? I say you should ask her to have lunch today or something, if you head over there now you could still ask her in time," Harry advised Ron.

"I guess I might," Ron rubbed the back of his head with one hand.

"Do that," Harry gave him a wink and turned to walk back to their camp, leaving Ron to think for himself.


End file.
